Purple-sprouting broccoli has great flavour, a long harvesting season and is extremely good for you. A single portion provides half your daily requirement of carotenoids, plus high levels of folic acid and vitamins A and C.

If you choose the right varieties, and time your seed sowing well, you can keep harvesting your crops from autumn through to early summer the following year. Purple-sprouting broccoli is extremely hardy, tolerating temperatures as low as -12°C. Sow in March to harvest in early winter, or from April to mid-June for harvesting from January to May.

Like other brassicas, purple-sprouting broccoli thrives in a fairly heavy, alkaline soil. Avoid growing it on an exposed site, where the wind will buffet the stems and loosen the soil around the roots.

Purple-sprouting broccoli has great flavour, a long harvesting season and is extremely good for you.

You will need

Purple-sprouting broccoli seeds

Good quality, multi-purpose compost

9cm pots

Fork

Trowel

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Step 1

Sow the seeds into small pots or multi-cell trays, using a good quality multi-purpose or loam-based seed and cuttings compost. Once they’re large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out and transplant them into single 9cm pots, watering in well.

Step 3

Transplant out when the plants are 7-9cm tall. Water them well before removing from their pots, and plant them 50-60cm apart, with a similar distance between the rows. Water again after planting and firm each rootball in well. Grow six plants if you want enough broccoli to feed a family of four.

Step 4

Keep the soil moist at all times and remove weeds to reduce competition. If growth is slow and stems of purple buds fail to appear, use a liquid feed to prompt them. Be sure to cover with fleece or mesh to keep out insects and birds.

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Harvesting purple sprouting broccoli

Harvest when the flower shoots are well developed but before the flowers have actually opened. Cut the central spear with a sharp knife first as this encourages the side shoots to develop quickly. Regular picking of the sideshoots will extend the cropping time.

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